Hot Dog
Trademark: Hot Dog
Trademark Type: traditional trademark; word mark
Brief (and likely incomplete) History [1]:
Every year on Independence Day, Americans across the country consume a disgusting number of hot dogs. No matter what you are doing that day – watching a WORLD CUP® game inside, playing WIFFLE® Ball outside, four-wheeling in your JEEP® SUV, or riding the waves on your JET SKI® personal watercraft – you are probably eating a hot dog at some point. In fact, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC) estimates Americans will eat 150 million hot dogs on July 4th alone (enough to stretch from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles five times!).
“HOT DOG” is a great example of how a phrase can and cannot be protected under trademark law, depending on what it is used as the brand name for. It is also a great example of how the same phrase can be a registered trademark owned by different companies for completely separate goods and services.
As followers of this account already know, the phrase “HOT DOG” by itself cannot be a trademark when used for the sale of hot dogs – everyone who sells hot dogs needs to use the phrase to sell their hot dogs, so no single person should own it. But, that doesn’t mean that the phrase “HOT DOG” alone cannot be a trademark when used for other, unrelated goods and services. Let’s take a look at some examples!
Hot Dog, Jughead's lazy and food-loving pet dog in Archie, first appeared in Pep Comics #224, published in December 1968. Archie Comics owns a trademark registration for HOT DOG® in connection with comic books. [2]
The Milwaukee Brewers have the Famous Racing Sausages that compete at every home game. Among the 5 sausages, HOT DOG® was added to the race in the mid-1990s. The Brewers’ own trademark registrations for HOT DOG® in connection with clothing, toys and sporting goods, and entertainment services in the nature of baseball games and live appearances by a costumed mascot character; fan clubs. As a bonus, the names of the other 4 sausages (BRAT®, CHORIZO®, ITALIAN SAUSAGE®, POLISH SAUSAGE®) are also registered trademarks! [3]
HOT DOG® is also a brand of (and registered trademark for) tea infusers sold by Lifetime Brands (Fred). [4]
And last but not least, HOT DOG® is a registered trademark owned by Q.E.P. for various types of saw blades. [5]
How can all of these companies claim ownership in the phrase “HOT DOG”? Trademark law is focused on the consumer, and whether concurrent use of a word mark might create confusion for the consumer. Is it likely that a consumer at a baseball game would think that the Brewers’ HOT DOG® mascot is related to the HOT DOG® tea infuser? Or would a consumer shopping for HOT DOG® saw blades confusingly think they are related to the Archie Comics’ character? Probably not! Because confusion is unlikely, all the companies can peacefully coexist while using the same phrase as a trademark.
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